


The Bright Spotlight Creates a Dark Shadow

by KishuBridge



Category: Katekyou Hitman Reborn!
Genre: :/, I have no idea why i wrote this, Twin Fic, a tribute to a dead fandom, follows mostly manga plot, slight spoiler (I guess)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-08
Updated: 2017-11-10
Packaged: 2019-01-10 13:32:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,841
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12300159
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KishuBridge/pseuds/KishuBridge
Summary: Tsuna was weak, Hideyoshi was strong. This had been true to all the residents of Namimori. This stayed true for them for the rest of their lives, except for a special few. With the help of Reborn turning both of their worlds upside down, the two find a place they can finally call their own.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So first of all, my summary is shit.  
> Second of all, I don't have a beta so for those who want to bash my writing, please do. I did not edit this in any way and thus it sounds awful and cringy probably.  
> Third of all, I have no idea why I'm writing this, therefore I most likely won't continue it unless if I get kudos, subs, comments, cuz I'll just be wasting my time. I do kinda have a plot in mind for this, which is why I'll probably continue this regardless of the reception I receive.  
> Welp, this is a dead fandom so ... yup (even though it has like 8k fanfics for it like wtf)

A kid, no older than a year, occupying three seats on the place, smirked as he rolled a very special bullet in his hand. No passenger noticed it. All eyes were glued to the very realistic gun on the aisle seat. His fedora casted a shadow over his eyes as it was pushed down by the weight of a small chameleon. The chameleon jumped down and snuggled up to the gun. Many sighs of relief were heard nearby. It couldn’t possibly be real if the kid let his pet near it so carelessly. The chameleon stuck its tongue out and wrapped it around the trigger.

The kid picked up the gun and shook the chameleon off. “Now now Leon, we don’t want to kill anybody just yet. We have to save that for Japan.”

The chameleon flicked its tail, almost as if it was trying to appear annoyed. The kid didn’t spare it even a glance. He read the profile in front of him. “Sawada Hideyoshi …” He trailed off as he looked at the next paper. As he read the two papers, he was hit with a premonition. It wasn’t really a premonition, but more like a feeling; a feeling that only made him dread his job ahead of him. Eventually he fell asleep, curled up with the chameleon. It would’ve been cute if it wasn’t for the very sharp looking knife innocently lying on the floor in front of him. All the passengers on the plane wondered dumbfoundedly how he got it through security.

* * *

“Hideyoshi, pass!” A basketball flew into an unsuspecting boy’s face. A huge clap was heard in the gym. The other boys in the gym grimaced. The ball dropped to the floor and bounced away.

“That was so mean,” Hideyoshi said with a pout. The palm of his hand stung, a red color taking over. He dropped his hand from his face and shook it as if it would hurt any less. The boys rushed over to make sure he was okay.

“I’m fine, I’m fine. Don’t worry so much.” Hideyoshi smiled uncomfortably as they fussed over Hideyoshi. A small brunette–with unrealistically spiky hair for someone who doesn’t use product–picked up the forgotten basketball that had rolled out of bounds, and attempted to shoot it from where he stood.

_Bang_.

He chased the ball as it bounced off the rim. The sound of the bouncing basketball drew the eyes of the crowd. “Dame-Tsuna, what do you think you’re doing?” yelled the captain of his team. Tsuna shrunk back, dropping the ball on instinct. The captain glared and began approaching. What would’ve happened if the teacher supervising PE that period didn’t blow his whistle will always be a mystery, but Tsuna knew that he wouldn’t have gotten off with just a few insults. His presence was enough to set off a mob.

The second the teacher blew his whistle signaled the end of the game, and the loss of the team that Tsuna was on. The entire began ganging up on Tsuna.

“It’s your fault we lost, you know,” the captain said with a glare that could really only kill Tsuna. He wasn’t really that frightening, but for meek little Tsuna, it was like a dangerous beast.

“Yeah!” Chorused the mob.

“Sorry,” Tsuna whispered, hanging his head down low.

“So, since it’s all your fault,” the captain continued, “do the cleaning. We want to play during our precious lunch time.” He shoved a mop into Tsuna’s face. The mob nodded in agreement.

Tsuna’s eyes stayed down, used to the treatment. “Okay.” He took the mop and began cleaning without any word. The boys laughed mockingly.

“How on Earth is Dame-Tsuna even remotely your twin, much less related to you,” the captain said, clapping a hand on Hideyoshi’s back. Hideyoshi’s eyebrows rose. Tsuna glanced up, making eye contact with Hideyoshi. Hideyoshi glared and Tsuna quickly dropped his gaze back down to the floor and fought the urge to correct the captain; instead, Hideyoshi said it.

“Please tell me you know that you used the phrase ‘much less’ wrong,” Hideyoshi said in a way that almost sounded like he was telling the captain to just say yes and then shut up. Tsuna didn’t have to risk looking up to know Hideyoshi was looking at the captain condescendingly.

The captain laughed awkwardly, clearly not reading in between the lines. A long pause followed. Nobody dared move or make a sound. “As expected of the genius twin! I’m sure Tsuna would’ve never known in his entire life that I used it wrong!” The captain said, trying to get on Hideyoshi’s good side and continuing to make fun of Tsuna at the same time. The stone fell short of both birds though.

“You’re trying too fucking hard,” Hideyoshi said with a groan, and walked out of the gym. Sighs of relief filled the gym. “This is all your goddamn fault.” The captain kicked Tsuna in the stomach and stomped out of the gym angrily, the mob following obediently behind him. Tsuna fell to the floor and curled up into a ball, trying to hold in his cry of pain. The mop hit the floor with a dull sound. He stayed curled up there until the pain subsided, and even then, he didn’t bother getting up until he heard voices through the window, He picked himself up off the floor, grabbed the fallen mop, and flattened his back against the wall beside the barred window. The conversation slipped through and reached his ears like a passing breeze.

“What, is it that weird?” The angelic voice of Sasagawa Kyoko asked. Tsuna nearly stuck his head through the bars to see her for himself. Despite being no good at anything, he still came to school for one reason; he could see Sasagawa Kyoko. It’s true that she’s cute and nice with an innocent smile, but that wasn’t his reason for wanting to see her.

She was like a breath of fresh air. She made him feel like he was just another person that she sees around. While some might think that to be an insult because they want to be special, that was Tsuna’s one wish. He just wanted to be another face in the crowd, no different from any other average person.

But in the end, he was a pitied bullied kid.

“Sheesh, this girl,” Kurokawa-san said, scoffing. Sasagawa-san gave her best friend a bright smile.

They sat down against the wall of the gym, conveniently underneath the gym window. They conversed happily, showing no signs of leaving anytime soon. Tsuna didn’t dare look away, not even noticing the faint pain in stomach that was in need of the little bit of food he managed to protect from those who wanted free money and lunch.

“Sorry to keep you waiting Kyoko.” A deep voice interrupted the friendly interaction.

“Oh! Mochida-senpai,” Sasagawa-san greeted the upperclassman and gave him a cute wave. Tsuna’s eyes went wide, shocked by what the encounter implied.

“Well, I’ll be going. I don’t want to intrude.” Kurokawa-san stood up, sending a sly grin to Sasagawa-san.

“Gosh, Hana.” Sasagawa-san pouted with a slight blush dusting her peachy cheeks.

Tsuna felt his heart sink along with him as he slid to the floor, clutching the mop tightly. “She’s seeing the kendo club’s captain.” He despised Mochida Kensuke. He understood the love for bullying Tsuna because Tsuna was such an easy target and a pushover at that. It didn’t stop at that, however. Mochida took bullying to a new low. If Tsuna even so much as looked at him, Mochida would look at him with disgust and shout a lie about Tsuna just so that others would stare at the innocent boy with disgust.

“There’s no reason to be at school now. I’m going home,” Tsuna said to himself, already seeing how everything would play out. Sasagawa-san would date Mochida for a long time, not having the heart to break up with him. Over that time, she would become tainted and ugly, and he couldn’t bear to see anymore.

He quickly changed and ran out of school as fast as he could. Once he was quite a distance away from school, he stopped, the feeling of wanting to throw up pushed to the back of his mind. He bent over to catch his breath, and felt a prickle on his neck. He looked up and scanned his surroundings. The prickle turned into a sting that was almost painful. He clamped a sweaty palm over his exposed neck, feeling as though he was naked. He couldn’t tell where it was coming from, but he felt something, or someone, was staring at him. It didn’t give the feeling that they meant harm, but there was something uncomfortable about the stare that he couldn’t quite pin down.

He went with his instincts and hustled home, ducking through alleyways and discreetly running through backyards of residential houses. The sting soon left him and disappeared to god knows where. He didn’t risk his chance though, and stayed tense until he reached his front porch.

The plant pot on the porch was slightly out of place, meaning that his mom had gone out. He adjusted the pot and went inside. He grabbed what was supposed to be his breakfast that morning and holed himself up in his room. Once safe and sound, he plopped down on his bed and read manga, allowing all the pent up stress to leave his body and mind.

When it neared 5 pm, his mother called up to him from the bottom of the staircase. “Tsu-kun, I got a call from school,” she begun, and he could already hear the lecture. “You came home in the middle of class again. What do you plan to do in the future?”

“I don’t know,” Tsuna said softly, trailing off, his mind drifting away from the manga in front of him.

Tsuna suddenly shot to his feet.“I’m not saying you have to go to a good high school or college, you know,” she said as she slammed the door to his bedroom open.

“Don’t barge into my room!” He protested weakly as he carefully sat back down.

“You can live your entire life bored like you are right now,” she began, crossing her arms contemplative, “or you can live it happily.” She put her hands to her cheeks and smiled cheerfully, no doubt thinking about Tsuna’s missing father.

“Could you not say that in front of people, it’s embarrassing,” Tsuna muttered; however he was thinking about how Hideyoshi would react if she ever said something like that in front of his friends. He shivered and clenched his fists in his lap.

“Oh my,” Nana said, pouting slightly. “Oh yeah, Tsu-kun, a home tutor is coming today.” She clasped her hands together and looked at him slyly.

“Home tutor?” Tsuna quickly turned to face his mother, almost questioning her sanity.

“There was an interesting flyer in the mailbox,” she said innocently as she held out a folded slip of paper.

“What’s with all the noise?” Hideyoshi said from the doorway. They whipped their heads around to look at him.

“Welcome back Hide-kun!” Nana greeted with a huge smile.

“Yeah yeah, I’m back,” he said dismissively. He snatched the paper, unfolded it, and read it out loud:

“Will raise your kid to be the new leader of the next generation. Grade and subject doesn’t matter. Reborn.”

“Isn’t it great? I’ve never seen a promotion like this before!” Nana laughed.

“This is stupid. This is one hundred percent a scam,” Hideyoshi said, annoyance written all over his face.

“It’s probably a tutor from a professional business school for young men. I’ve wanted a teacher like this for the both of you,” Nana said, trying to convince them.

“Don’t be delusional and create your own image of him. Where do you see anything written about him being some professional guy who knows what he’s doing?” Hideyoshi almost growled. Nana didn’t have time to reprimand him, because something came flying through the window, heading straight toward Tsuna’s face. Tsuna stepped out of the object’s way, the wind whistling as it narrowly passed by his face. The moment passed and they found themselves with Hideyoshi on the floor, pressing his palm to his forehead, and a small baby with a fedora and suit on, clutching a briefcase, with a chameleon on the brim of the fedora.

“Ciaossu.”


	2. Chapter 2

Tsuna, Nana, and Hideyoshi all stared at the baby with varying levels of shock.

“I arrived three hours early, but as a service, I’ll evaluate you now,” the baby said with a confident smirk.

“Hey, whose kid are you? And how did you get in here?” Hideyoshi asked with a harsh glare. Nana bent down to look at the baby at eye level. Tsuna backed away, a feeling in the back of his mind telling him to escape as soon as possible. While Tsuna felt stupid taking it seriously, this baby felt like trouble.

“I’m Reborn, the home tutor from the flyer.”

Hideyoshi scoffed. “Are you fucking with me? I was wondering what kind of person created that bullshit flyer. It was a fucking baby. Jesus Mom, what did you do?” Hideyoshi stood up and looked at the baby condescendingly. Nana put a hand to her mouth, trying to contain her surprise.

“So you’re Tsuna?” Reborn asked, completely ignoring Hideyoshi’s remark. Tsuna nodded, slowly backing out of the room as Reborn advanced closer. When Reborn abruptly stopped and turned to face Hideyoshi, Tsuna quickly hid near the door, ready to escape but too curious to leave just yet.

“Hm, I have a lot of work cut out for me.” Reborn looked Hideyoshi up and down.

“Even though Tsuna has a lot he could learn from you, I don’t see how you could possibly be _my_ tutor. What could I ever possibly learn from a little baby like you?” Hideyoshi rolled his eyes. Hideyoshi suddenly felt a pressure driving through his stomach, which had him falling to the floor, passed out.

“Well, let’s get started. The room over is his, right?” Reborn asked casually, ignoring the fact that he just kicked Hideyoshi in his solar plexus and clearly dragging Hideyoshi by the collar toward the door. Tsuna shrunk away, trying to make his presence unnoticeable.

“Yup,” Nana said, her eyes wide. Reborn nodded his head and looked at Tsuna. Tsuna shivered, but he met Reborn’s gaze. Reborn smirked and left the room, Hideyoshi being towed away. “I’ve hired someone quite interesting, haven’t I, Tsu-kun.”

* * *

When Hideyoshi regained consciousness, he sat up and realized he was now in his room, on the floor. He held his head and muttered to himself, wondering why he had dreamed that there was a baby hitman and he was going to become a mafia boss. The next thing he noticed was Reborn peacefully sleeping in front of him, and that it wasn’t a dream at all.

He grabbed Reborn’s collar and shook him violently. “Hey. Wake up you little shit! I won’t let you off just ‘cause you’re a little brat.” He felt a sharp tug at his necktie, making him pause, and the next thing he knew, he was lying flat on the floor, his back stinging all over.

“Fuck that hurts! What the fuck are you?” Hideyoshi yelled as he shot up into a sitting position.

“I have no openings. My real profession is assassination.” In a split second, he snapped open the briefcase and assembled a rifle. “And my real job is to make you into a mafia boss.”

“Huh? Are you mental? A mafia boss?” Hideyoshi narrowed his eyes.

“I was assigned by a certain man to train you to become an astounding mafia boss.”

“So you’re admitting that you’re mental?”

“The method is up to me,” Reborn continued, ignoring Hideyoshi’s words entirely.

Hideyoshi looked at him skeptically.

“Shall I shoot you once?” Reborn asked, pointing the rifle at him.

“Oh fuck no,” Hideyoshi shouted as he jumped up, ready to bolt out of the room.

“But not now, so sit down or I’ll really shoot.” Left with no other choice, Hideyoshi sat back down, but not without an eye watching the trigger.

Reborn opened his mouth to talk, but a loud sound interrupted him. They stared at each other, then at Reborn’s stomach. “Later.” Reborn was already walking out the door, his briefcase closed and occupying his hand once more.

Once Reborn turned the corner, all tension left Hideyoshi’s body. “What a guy,” he said, letting out a huge sigh. “Well there shouldn’t be a next time. Mom had better learned her lesson.”

Unbeknownst to him, outside the door, Reborn was having a stare down with Tsuna.

“Why are you here?” Tsuna asked cautiously. Reborn looked into Tsuna’s eyes, examining all he could, but coming out with nothing but the expected. A weak, bullied kid who was bad at everything. If that was the case, then how could he look at Reborn without feeling like a mouse being stared down by a cat.

“What do you mean? I’m just here to tutor Hideyoshi,” Reborn replied innocently as he could.

“That’s not all though, right? I mean, if you were an actual tutor, you’d also be tutoring me.”

Reborn repressed his smirk. Despite being considered the inferior twin, he was much more intuitive than Hideyoshi. Reborn could definitely see the signs of his hyper intuition developing, much faster than expected considering he had no training whatsoever. “You’ll know in due time.”

“He won’t die right? He’ll still be able to come home at the end of the day and be able to greet Mom rudely, bully me, then slack off for the rest of the night with homework on his table that he finished in minutes. Right?” Despite sounding meek and afraid, his stare was steely and seemed to bore into Reborn. If it weren’t for being hardened by many years of assassination, Reborn might’ve even flinched.

“That’s not my job. I’m only here to give him what he needs to survive. If he doesn’t survive, then it’s his fault.” Tsuna stared at him, possibly trying to figure out if Reborn was lying.

“Teach me.”

“What?” Reborn was taken aback. He certainly didn’t expect this.

“Whatever you’re showing Hideyoshi, show me. Whether it’s homework, college level questions–” he seemed to hesitate before continuing, “–or how to defend yourself, teach me all of it.”

“Why do you want to know?”

“I need to be able to protect him.” That sentence stopped all thoughts in their tracks. Reborn contemplated what Tsuna was suggesting. Of all people, Tsuna believed that he was capable of protecting Hideyoshi, and believed that he needed protection. After thinking for a few second more, Reborn nodded.

“Sure, why not. Be warned, I won’t go easy on you, nor will you gain any special position after the training, unlike Hideyoshi.” Tsuna didn’t even seem surprised that there was something waiting in the future for Hideyoshi after Reborn was done with him.

“Thank you,” Tsuna said, bowing deeply.

“Stop blocking the fucking hallways, you worthless piece of wasted money.” Hideyoshi pushed past, spitting at Tsuna’s face as he shoved Tsuna with his shoulder. The spit landed square on Tsuna’s face, a little under the eye. It dripped down, creating a trail that ended at his jawline.

“Please head down for dinner. I’ll join you in a moment while I quickly go to the bathroom,” Tsuna said, pressing himself against the wall for Reborn to pass. Reborn looked at up the boy’s sad expression, the spit trail resembling a tear trail.

“I expect you down there in a minute, otherwise I’ll have to reconsider my answer,” Reborn said roughly, but not cruelly. Tsuna blinked, then his lips twitched into nearly a small smile; however, it disappeared instantly almost as if it were an illusion.

“Okay Reborn.” Tsuna walked away, leaving Reborn to stare at his back. Rather than a wolf in sheepskin, it would be more accurate to say a fox in disguise as a helpless bunny. This household held a lot more secrets than it seemed.

“Hide-kun, what about dinner?” Nana asked, poking her head out of the doorway as she saw her son walk down the stairs past the dining room.

* * *

 

“I’m gonna go eat with friends. Can I have money?” Hideyoshi requested as he texted his friends.

“Yeah, it’s in the drawer by the door,” Nana responded, already returning to the kitchen.

“Oh yeah, and about that weirdass tutor-” Hideyoshi began.

“You talking about me?” Reborn called from the room where Hideyoshi just saw Nana. Hideyoshi stopped, turned around, and paused. He stared at the doorway, wondering if he was hearing things. “Yes, I’m here. You have a problem?”

Hideyoshi walked to the doorway, suspicious, and peered in. Reborn was sitting there on cushions, barely reaching the countertop, eating as if his presence was an everyday occurrence. “Why are you still here?” Hideyoshi demanded.

“Well, the contract states that Reborn-kun will live here until your grades go up,” Nana said, smiling as always.

“Are you fucking kidding? My grades are already top of the class. Any further and I’ll be going past 100 percent.” He received no response. “Seriously? You’re going to be here forever then! Hey, then why don’t you teach Tsuna? His grades are shit, I’m sure he needs this tutoring way more than I do.”

“Tsuna is also being taught by me. Don’t worry about him, worry about yourself.” Reborn held out his bowl to Nana. “More rice please.” Nana laughed and gave him a healthy helping of rice.

Hideyoshi glared, turned and left the room. The two stared at each other, shrugged, then continued on with what they were doing. They could hear him violently opening and closing the drawer, followed by the loud bang of the door slamming shut.

“Should I go follow him to make sure he’ll be safe?” Tsuna asked timidly from the doorway. Reborn whipped his head around, Tsuna’s sudden presence giving Reborn a sense of uncomfort.

“Do you think he’ll get into trouble?” Nana questioned as she sat down at the table. Confusion briefly flitted across Reborn’s face, before returning to his usual cold stare. Tsuna paused. “I don’t know. It’s possible.” Tsuna furrowed his brow. He hesitated before continuing. “It’s okay, I’ll go follow him. Don’t worry.” Tsuna dashed out of the house before they knew it.

They were both aware of the questions dangling on the tip of Reborn’s tongue, but both of them ignored it, in favor of peacefully enjoying a dinner.

By the time that Tsuna caught up to Hideyoshi, he already met up with his friends. “Hideyoshi, my man, how’re you doing? Dame-Tsuna still being no good?” Osamu asked with a smirk.

“Say another word about my brother and you’re finished.” Hideyoshi walked in front of the group with a neutral expression. The boys shivered, frightened by the unspoken threat.

“Okay!” Kamiyama said, his voice slightly strained. He lightly clapped a hand on Hideyoshi’s back. “Let’s chill out a bit, we’re not here to fight anyone. Let’s go to that new diner and have some good food.” He easily took control of the group’s tenseness and cleared it out of the air. The group visibly relaxed when Hideyoshi gave him a slight nod.

Hidden under the protection of the dark night, Tsuna let himself smile. “Maybe my feeling was wrong after all.” With that, Tsuna crept away, certain that nothing would happen to the boys that night; however, what Tsuna felt that night wasn’t an accident waiting to happen, but the beginning of a long journey in which both boys would have to fight to protect what they loved the most.


	3. Chapter 3

“Why the fuck are you following me? Don’t you have preschool or something?” Hideyoshi asked, irritation creeping into his voice.

“Assassins don’t go to grade school,” Reborn responded coolly, ignoring Hideyoshi’s first question.

“Oh quit the assassin act already. It’s getting old.” Hideyoshi let out a deep breath in attempt to release his built up anger.

“Calm down already. Look, Tsuna isn’t complaining. You could learn a thing or two from him,” Reborn said with a disapproving look. Hideyoshi rolled his eyes. Tsuna looked down at Reborn, not understanding what was going on as he had been daydreaming. Then he glanced up and saw Hideyoshi had disappeared from in front of him. He turned around, trying to find Hideyoshi, and saw him hiding around the corner. Tilting his head, bewildered, he gave his surroundings another once over and saw Sasagawa heading their way.

Reborn glanced at Tsuna, then at Sasagawa, before settling his gaze on Hideyoshi. To any normal person, Hideyoshi didn’t look any different from normal, but normal definitely wasn’t something used to describe Reborn. Reborn tried to read the expression on Hideyoshi’s face, but it was so complicated that he couldn’t even begin to even distinguish a single emotion Hideyoshi was expressing.

“Aw, hi little boy! You’re so adorable,” Sasagawa squealed as she bent down to look at Reborn at eye level.

“Ciaossu.” This time, Reborn definitely saw the look of panic cross Hideyoshi’s face.

“Why are you wearing a suit?”

“Because I’m in the mafia.”

“Wow! That’s so cool!” Sasagawa continued without a moment of hesitation. Hideyoshi grimaced. “Oh, good morning Sawada-kun.” Tsuna nodded and waved in return. “Where’s Hideyoshi-kun? You’re always somewhere near him.” Tsuna gave her a small shrug.

“Crap! Sasagawa-san already likes that little brat!” Hideyoshi muttered to himself.

“Well, good bye! Don’t forget to find Hideyoshi-kun before school starts,” Sasagawa said with a smile as she walked away. Reborn glanced at Hideyoshi’s crumbling expression, then at Tsuna’s frown, then back at Hideyoshi. _She must be a taboo topic between the two of them for some reason,_ Reborn thought to himself. _She would be a first great dying will instigator_. Leon shapeshifted into a gun, which Reborn loaded with a dying will bullet. He clasped both hands behind his back along with the gun, successfully hiding it, while he sauntered up to Hideyoshi.

“Do you like her?” Reborn studied his body language as he asked the question. Hideyoshi stiffened and his expression turned cold.

“Don’t be stupid. Then again, you’re a baby, what do you know?” Hideyoshi said and walked away. Tsuna’s frown deepened.

“Why is your brother so angry?” Reborn asked.

Tsuna carefully chose his words as he respond. “It’s just a little thing that happened when we were six years old. Hideyoshi just hasn’t gotten over it yet.” Reborn’s eyebrows rose slightly. It definitely didn’t seem like a little thing. Reborn quickly bounced over to Hideyoshi, gun still concealed.

“Do you regret it?” Reborn asked with a knowing tone to his voice despite knowing nothing.

“Did Tsuna tell you about it? God damn him.” Hideyoshi growled and began walking faster.

“Do you?” Reborn pressed.

Hideyoshi didn’t respond for a long time, to the point where Reborn thought that Hideyoshi was pretending to ignore him.

Then, when they arrived at the school gates, Hideyoshi muttered “yes” under his breath, then he was gone. Reborn clicked his tongue, miffed that he missed his chance to see Hideyoshi under the influence of the dying will bullet.

“Bye Reborn,” Tsuna said as he passed through the gates just as the teacher slammed it shut. Reborn nodded, then headed off.

* * *

 

Everything was going great for Hideyoshi until lunchtime rolled around. He was getting good test scores back, he didn’t have to talk much to others during break, and teachers weren’t calling on him at all. Then Mochida, the most arrogant prick in the entire school, decided that Hideyoshi was an annoyance in his life, and decided to pick a fight with him.

“Oh, hi Hideyoshi-kun! I’m glad to see that you made it to school on time!” Sasagawa-san said with a bright smile. Hideyoshi turned away from the vending machine and waved at Sasagawa-san. Nobody in the school, including Hideyoshi, could resist her bright smile. Despite Reborn’s prodding that morning, Hideyoshi felt all his worries vanish briefly with her smile.

“Hi Sasagawa-san.” Even so, Hideyoshi was a naturally less-talkative person, so instead of awkwardly looking at each other, he turned back to the vending machine. It’s not that he didn’t like her company, she was a nice person to be around, but it was hard for him to believe that she didn’t remember. It scared him that one day, her memories would surface and destroy his entire life, and make Tsuna’s sacrifice pointless.

“Hey! Hideyoshi-kun? Are you okay?” Sasagawa-san spoke into his ear suddenly. Hideyoshi yelped and fell back, only to bump into Mochida. Hideyoshi looked up at Mochida, only to meet a condescending look.

“Oi, what’s with that? Ignoring Kyoko? How dare you! Just because you think you’re hot stuff doesn’t mean that you can just ignore those you think are beneath you, you prick,” Mochida said angrily, his volume becoming increasingly louder. Hideyoshi didn’t focus on Mochida’s words, but rather Tsuna who was sprinting towards Mochida’s unsuspecting back.

“Watch out!” Sasagawa-san called out, but it was too late. Tsuna rammed right into Mochida, and the two collided on the ground. Printouts for class drifted slowly to the floor and littered the hallways.

“Ow! What the fuck, Dame-Tsuna? Are you blind now too?” Mochida yelled as he got up gruffly, slapping Tsuna upon the head hard along the way. Sasagawa-san held her hand up to her mouth in shock. Before he could think, Hideyoshi found his fist wedged in Mochida’s stomach. He clamped a hand around Mochida’s shoulder and whispered, “go or you’re dead.” Mochida whimpered, and he scrambled down the hallways, on his hands and knees until he turned the corner. Laughs from the nearby students followed him all the way to the next floor.

“Are you okay?” Sasagawa-san asked as she held a hand out to Tsuna. Tsuna nodded, gently put her hand down, and got up on his own. He started picking up the scattered printouts that people were not-so-helpfully stepping on. Sasagawa-san began to help him as well, though to avail, as most of the printouts were left with a dirty shoemark somewhere or other.

“I’ll go take them in,” Sasagawa-san offered. Tsuna shook his head. Hideyoshi opened his mouth to offer, but then remembered that he couldn’t speak to Tsuna during school. It was all part of the agreement. Instead, Hideyoshi tugged the printouts out of Tsuna’s hands and quickly left before they could do anything about it.

He returned the printouts to the teacher without any explanation of why he was holding them, or why they were all dirty and had to be reprinted. As soon as he left the teacher’s office, Mochida surrounded him with his groupies.

Mochida lamely tossed a glove onto the floor and handing him a long envelope, written on it _Letter of Challenge_. After glancing at Mochida’s serious expression, Hideyoshi proceeded to rip up the envelope and its contents, then stepped on the glove as he walked past Mochida.

“Hold it.” His groupies closed all gaps as Mochida approached. “4:00, gym, fight. If you don’t come, Dame-Tsuna’s getting it.” Hideyoshi whipped his head around so fast, Mochida was seeing double. Hideyoshi didn’t hesitate for a second.

“Fine. Don’t cheat, you wimp,” Hideyoshi spit out and walked away as calmly as he could, though his blood was boiling lava.

“Late and you forfeit, coward,” Mochida yelled back, but his voice cracked at the end. His groupies laughed while Mochida growled, his ears red at the tips.

* * *

 

“Are you going to watch Hideyoshi fight?” Reborn asked Tsuna once class ended. Tsuna shut his locker, glanced around to make sure that there weren’t others nearby, then spoke.

“I’m going to fight for him,” Tsuna said, tying his shoelaces. Tsuna wasn’t shaking, he wasn’t scared. He was ready to fight, no matter the painful future that awaited him.

“Why?”

“Because then nobody would hate Hideyoshi.”

“Why would anyone hate Hideyoshi?”

“Because he won’t fight Mochida. I know he won’t.”

“Why won’t he? Is he afraid of something? Or he just doesn’t want to waste him time?” But Tsuna refused to say more. Tsuna took a deep breath outside the gym, then pushed his way into the gym through the crowd.

“Go Hideyoshi!” The crowd cheered. Tsuna felt his heart spike at the sound of Hideyoshi’s name. Tsuna was tossed around by the crowd, but he eventually made his way to the front. Standing in the middle of the open space was Mochida and Hideyoshi staring at each other, both with very serious expressions on their face. Tsuna’s eyes widened and he quickly ran out and pushed Hideyoshi into the crowd.

“Leave, you’re not wanted here Dame-Tsuna!” The crowd booed and threw notebooks and plastic water bottles at him.

“Go!” Tsuna whispered into Hideyoshi’s ear and gave him a final shove. Hideyoshi was immediately swallowed up by the crowd, the cheers soon replaced with: “Fight!”

“Dame-Tsuna, get over here. It’s all your fault anyways, the real reason why I’m forced to fight Hideyoshi,” Mochida said, beckoning Tsuna to take Hideyoshi’s spot. Tsuna pressed his lips together, then cautiously walked over. He stared at Mochida who was in full kendo armor.

“The rules are simple: just get one point off me and you win. If you don’t, then I win. The prize is obviously Sasagawa Kyoko.” The crowd erupted into noise.

“I’m the prize?” Sasagawa-sans exclaimed, her face full of horror.

“What a jerk,” Kurokawa-san said, her disgust clear as day. Suddenly, the kendo members grabbed Sasagawa-san and pulled her to the side. Nobody stopped them, they just watched as Sasagawa-san cried out for help. Tsuna felt anger welling up within him.

“Get ready, because you’re dead meat,” Tsuna growled. He could stand abuse against him, he could stand pain, he could stand people hating and ostracizing him, but he couldn’t stand anybody hurting anyone precious to him and innocents.

Mochida smirked. “The shinai and armor you’re using is heavier than anything I can handle, and you really think the ref will raise your flag? Please. I’ll take any advantage I can have.” Tsuna grabbed the shinai handed to him and nearly dropped it. The crowd laughed as he struggled to pick it up. He managed to lift the shinai just a bit off the ground, then held it there for a few moments, slowly gaining more confidence as he readied it.

“You might want to have some armor if you don’t want to be one big bruise tomorrow, though I doubt it’ll help regardless.” Mochida smirked, his ego inflating even further as the entire kendo club burst into laughter.

“I’m ready. Are you?”

“To beat you? Of course.”

“Ready! Go!” The ref whistled the start of the match. In a moment, Tsuna quickly struck his shinai down on Mochida’s helmet before anyone could blink. The entire gym went silent. A loud sound of something cracking echoed throughout the gym. Mochida collapsed onto the floor with a thud.

“I need another shinai,” Tsuna requested. The ref stared at Tsuna’s clearly broken shinai, to Mochida passed out on the floor, then at Tsuna.

He reluctantly raised Tsuna’s flag. “Tsuna is the winner.” The gym erupted into noise as everyone started to wonder whether what they just saw was real. Tsuna dropped the shinai, then quickly exited the gym, not wanting to be bombarded with questions. He shimmied through the crowd, covering his face as best as he could while bending down so nobody could tell it was him and stop him to interrogate him about what he just pulled.

His heart pounded, his expectations for that matchup going a lot better than he had planned. Then he sensed something dropping from above.

“Reborn!” Tsuna exclaimed as Reborn suddenly dropped onto Tsuna’s head. Tsuna frowned as the spot that Reborn landed on hurt a little bit. Tsuna could feel a headache forming, but he couldn’t tell if that was because of Reborn’s fall or because of the conversation they were about to have.

“Nice skills. Where’d you get them from?” Reborn asked casually.

Tsuna paused to think. “Training?” He tried.

“Even though you asked me the other day to train you?” Reborn gave him an unconvinced look, despite Tsuna not being able to see it.

“I want to improve my skills even more?” Tsuna was already running out of ideas. He was pretty sure Reborn could tell. Tsuna wasn’t used to talking so much and lie so much.

“Don’t lie to me. Since when did you start pretending?” Reborn continued pushing. Tsuna hesitated before answering.

“It’s instinct,” he said honestly. “I just used the heaviness of the sword and instinct to time it so I would get him before he could do anything.”

“That’s it? Instinct? Is that your final answer?” Reborn raised an eyebrow.

“It’s instinct.” Reborn looked a bit surprised. “Are you going to go find Hideyoshi and talk to him?” Tsuna was a bit afraid of what Reborn would do to Hideyoshi and him if Reborn found out the truth behind all their secrets. Tsuna knew that Hideyoshi was smarter than that–nobody had ever found out before, after all–but Tsuna was a worrier. He worried even about the safety of his mom when she went shopping near dusk.

“I’m a step ahead of you, kid.” Reborn patted Tsuna’s head, his fedora tipping forward slightly as he did so. Tsuna resisted the urge to say that Reborn was even younger, but the fact that his words sounded rather natural, he rolled with it, wondering what Reborn's true identity was.

* * *

 

“Get out of here Reborn. I don’t want to hear whatever you have to say.” Hideyoshi stomped away, a look of disgust on his face. Reborn stood in front of Hideyoshi’s path.

“Why’d you leave?” Reborn questioned.

“None of your business.”

“So you just abandoned your twin brother just to save yourself?”

“Shut up. It’s my decision and your dumb words can’t convince me to go back into that gym and fight Mochida.” His voice was surprising neutral for someone who had such angry words.

“Who said that I was going to have you go back?”

“Don’t be stupid. You want me to fight Mochida so that you can test my strength to see if I’m fit to be a part of the mafia.”

“Not a part, the next boss.”

“Whatever. It’s all just some weird scam anyways.” Hideyoshi scoffed.

“All I want to know is why did you leave? And I want your real answer. Not an answer to keep up a front.” Hideyoshi narrowed his eyes.

“Do you know anything about any fronts?”

“I know that Tsuna really cares for you despite being bullied due to your higher position.”

“That’s not hard to tell. So basically you’re telling me there’s no pretending going on here. You’re just trying different key words to trigger me and spill a secret.” Reborn clicked his tongue. He was a lot smarter than Reborn originally thought, since he fell for the regret question earlier that day.

“Just give me your answer. Why did you leave?”

Hideyoshi rolled his eyes. “Tsuna asked me to. There, you happy?”

“Yes, actually, I am. Have fun prancing around while Tsuna gets beat up.” Reborn tried provoking Hideyoshi one more time, but he was unsuccessful.

“As if. Tsuna will crush Mochida in a second.” With a roll of his eyes, Hideyoshi left Reborn to contemplate on his words. Reborn stared at him, shrugged, then entered the gym.

Hideyoshi was spot on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rip notebooks. They wasted perfectly good notes from class :(


	4. Chapter 4

“Eight more laps!” Reborn commanded was Tsuna tripped over a bump in the road. Tsuna looked at Reborn who was following along in a Leon-car. Tsuna was out of breath, his muscles burned, his cramp felt like it was a knife through his side. All were testaments to how out of shape Tsuna was. Tsuna slowly got up, his knee stinging a bit from getting close and personal with the concrete, which was a little wet from the sprinklers. With black spots dancing in his eyes accompanied by early morning fog, Tsuna began running once more. Reborn nodded with approval.

Tsuna passed by the riverside for the seventh time that morning, when he noticed someone doing pushups and shouting numbers loudly, not a hint of tiredness in their voice.

“498! 499! 500! Time for an extreme jog!” Within a blink, the person had already joined Tsuna and was easily passing Tsuna. Granted, Tsuna wasn’t particularly fast, considering it was his seventh time around the town and he wasn’t physically fit in general, but the person was on another level. On closer inspection, Tsuna noticed that the person was in fact Sasagawa Ryohei, the older brother of Sasagawa Kyoko.

Tsuna suddenly had a brief moment of the need to keep up with the extreme senpai, and and he did attempt for two laps before he neared his limit, his calves begging for a break. This was when Sasagawa-senpai finally turned around and acknowledged Tsuna. “You’re quite extreme! You’ve kept up with me this entire time! I’m impressed, join the boxing team!” He nearly screamed into Tsuna’s ear. Tsuna grimaced, but used this chance as an excuse to stop and take a short break. He could hear Reborn click his tongue behind him.

“Good morning Sasagawa-senpai. Are you doing an early morning workout?” Tsuna asked, taking deep breaths in between words. Sasagawa-senpai grinned and began hopping around in place. Tsuna wondered absentmindedly how Sasagawa-senpai could possibly have that much energy still.

“Of course! It’s great for the body, and I gotta make sure that I’m ready for extreme boxing for the day!” Tsuna cocked in his head. He was 99% sure that Sasagawa-senpai forgot that classes existed. Tsuna shrugged and rolled with it.

“You do this everyday?” Tsuna asked.

“Of course! It’s extremely cool to be the first to wake up in the house!” Again, Tsuna rolled with Sasagawa-senpai’s answer. If Tsuna was ever going to talk more with Sasagawa-senpai, it seemed that this would become a common occurrence.

“Well, I’m going to continue running. You can go ahead of me Sasagawa-senpai.” Tsuna started running once more, though the fatigue in his muscles were definitely dragging him down. Sasagawa-senpai easily fell into Tsuna’s pace and ran with him.

“I’ll run with you because running with others is extreme! Also, call me Ryohei! Last names are for those who aren’t extreme!” Tsuna nodded.

“Okay Ryohei-senpai.”

“Just Ryohei!”

“Ryohei-san?”

“Extreme!” That was the last words they exchanged for the rest of Tsuna’s run. Tsuna had completely forgotten that Reborn was following them from behind until he decided to pipe up.

“That’s the fifteenth lap. Stop and go home Tsuna,” Reborn said, checking his watch. Tsuna looked behind him, half surprised, half , then glanced at Ryohei-san who had stopped completely at the sudden squeaky voice.

“Technically it was the twelfth, but I need to go watch Hideyoshi and Tsuna will be late to school at this rate,” Reborn muttered as a side note. Neither of the boys heard him.

“Who’s that?” Ryohei-san asked.

“My … trainer?” Tsuna tried. It would be too complicated to explain his true situation, and it probably wouldn’t be right to expose Ryohei-san to something too dangerous for him anyways. Tsuna didn’t want to involve any innocents if possible.

“Extreme! Well, I’m going to go run some more. Get some extreme rest at home!” Ryohei-san said with a wave, then disappeared around the corner. Again, Tsuna couldn’t fathom how Ryohei-san had so much energy. Almost as if he had an unlimited bank of energy he drew from constantly. Tsuna looked up at the sky briefly and shielded his eyes from the blinding sun. Ryohei-san gave Tsuna energy somehow however, just like the blinding sun that shined warmly on him.

“I’ll be going ahead of you,” Reborn said, before speeding away on the Leon-car. Tsuna sighed and shrugged. He took his sweet time walking home, the cool morning breeze kissing his flushed face. He used his shirt to wipe his face in neck, all of which had the case of being drowned in sweat. He was thankful that Reborn had decided to end earlier than Tuna had expected, leaving him an hour before he would need to leave for school. Then again, he was on the other side of town.

* * *

Hideyoshi groaned as he finished another page of the mafia book Reborn gave him. He would had loved nothing more than to stop reading and live in ignorance of what the book spoke of, but considering that he was being held at gunpoint, it was a bit difficult. The moment her opened the book, he thought that he was reading a fantasy novel because of all the nonsensical things; however judging by Reborn’s expression and the legitimacy and logic behind everything it spoke of, he had no choice but to accept it as truths. Hideyoshi reluctantly continued reading.

He had nearly made it through a whole chapter when he heard the door slam shut. “Tsuna’s back,” Reborn noted, checking his watch. Considering that Hideyoshi had woken up approximately 20 minutes prior, it appeared to be 7:20. Tsuna’s soft footsteps could be heard entering the bathroom, followed by the shower being turned on.

“Continue reading,” Reborn commanded without turning away from the doorway. Hideyoshi rolled his eyes. Hideyoshi turned the page and nearly vomited. The page contained detailed depictions of different infamous crime scenes, all mafia related of course. The first one was of a beheading of a traitor. It showed different angles of the body, including one from the top. The second one was of men being poisoned. The poison forced the skin to break, the veins thin, and cause the blood vessels to burst out of the veins and out of the body. Most of the men were just a mass of blood, the eyes crying blood, and some pictures showed the moment the blood spurted out of the men to create a fountain of blood.

The third was by far the worst. It was mutilation with the body parts were sewn back on in the wrong places. One man’s limbs were all cut along with the head. The the head was placed on top of the right shoulder; the legs were sewn onto the sides of the man, the feet cut off; the hands were placed where the head was supposed to be; the arms were placed where the legs were supposed to be; the feet sticking into the chest like knives.

Hideyoshi threw the book across the room as he ran to the bathroom, dry heaving over the toilet. He felt bile rise up his throat, whatever was in his stomach threatening to come out. Thankfully, he hadn’t eaten since dinner the night before.

When Hideyoshi stopped gagging, and the need to vomit passed, he returned to his room. “I’m not reading that ever again,” he stated as firmly as he could, but the shaking in his voice gave him away. Reborn raised an eyebrow.

“You’re going to be the 10th generation boss, you can’t avoid it,” Reborn said matter-of-factly.

“Are you deaf? Haven’t I been saying no? There’s absolutely no way I’m going to be a mafia boss.” Hideyoshi stood up abruptly, grabbed his school bag, and left the room. There was no way he would become a mafia boss. It was insane, and Reborn was insane to begin with. A baby whose job is to be an assassin? He felt like everything was just a nightmare, or the world was trying to fuck him over.

Hideyoshi slammed the house door behind, and walked to school, ignoring any greetings he received. Hideyoshi watched Tsuna as people approached him. For once, Tsuna didn’t seem so lonely, so trapped in a small space nobody could enter. Perhaps that was Hideyoshi’s fault. Tsuna seemed happy regardless, so either way, Hideyoshi didn’t mind.

Then again, thanks to Hideyoshi getting into a fight with Mochida, Tsuna finally got the recognition that he needed and that should’ve been his to begin with. Maybe he didn’t get it in a normal way, but the end result was the thing that mattered most.

In between classes, a starter on the volleyball team ran up to Tsuna and begged him to replace a player that recently got hurt. Hideyoshi was shocked as he watched the scene from afar. Tsuna, who suddenly became a mega hit in the school, being asked to join the volleyball team temporarily despite him not having any motor skills prior? Unbelievable. But it happened and Hideyoshi couldn’t deny the truth. In all honestly, Hideyoshi was glad it wasn’t him who was asked. While Hideyoshi could play just about any sport, he was awful at volleyball for reasons unknown.

Tsuna reluctantly agreed, causing a storm of thank you’s from the volleyball player, along with a stern look and forced Tsuna to promise him that Tsuna would show up. Tsuna gave the player such an unconfident look that it made Hideyoshi wonder why the volleyball player still wanted Tsuna.

When the time for the match arrived, the entire school was there, ready to watch Tsuna the up-and-coming star play. He appeared in normal volleyball gear, most likely taken from the injured player. The captain of the opponent loomed over their captain. The coin was flipped, and the serve went to the opponents. The players shook hands, then moved to either their spot on the court or off to the side, the metaphorical bench.

Hideyoshi studied the players as they lined up on the court with surprise. Not only was Tsuna a starter, but he was playing setter, a crucial position to winning a point in volleyball. Hideyoshi was 100% certain that Tsuna had no good experiences with volleyball, much less playing as setter. Hideyoshi couldn’t even begin to understand why the team would get a newbie replacement for the setter and not put an actual player in as setter and put Tsuna in as a hitter.

Nevertheless, the first point began with a strong serve, which the backrow passed perfectly to Tsuna. Tsuna stepped forward, his hands in the air, ready to set the ball to one of the hitters, but the ball slipped right through his fingers and slapped his face. The court went silent. Hideyoshi didn’t even know where to begin. One of the players on the team walked up to Tsuna once he got over the shock and patted his back.

“Come on guys, let’s go! Next, next! Let’s get the next point. Side out in one!” The team immediately came back to life and the crowd went wild. While the opponents looked extremely confused, their server took the ball and served once the ref blew the whistle.

Yet again, another strong serve and another great pass from the backrow. This time, Tsuna moved his hands a smidge closer than before, just enough so the ball wouldn’t slip through, but still, without practice, he couldn’t have had a good set. Tsuna attempted to set the ball, and the ref blew the whistle without hesitation, giving the other team the point, and held up two fingers. Tsuna doubled. The first few points continued with failure, Tsuna failing to get the set right and having to keep adjusting in some way despite getting perfect passes. When the backrow players finally got tired of it, they sent the ball to the right side, who set it to the outside, and the outside spiked the ball down, winning the point. The team cheered at their first success.

Halfway through the first set, Tsuna managed at last to set the ball, and although it wasn’t a great set, it was workable, and the outside managed to hit the ball and win them the point. That was the loudest cheer by far. Tsuna was swallowed up by the hugs of his teammates, and while he didn’t exactly smile, it was the closest to a smile Hideyoshi had ever seen on Tsuna in public.

“So that’s the family’s tenth boss,” Hideyoshi heard someone murmur. He spun around, searching for the one who said it, but failed miserably, the crowd an annoyingly perfect disguise for hiding any random voices that might be heard.

The team ended up losing that set, the gap too large to overcome. The team got up, patted themselves off, then went back on the court with different faces. They went on to win the next three sets, thus winning the game.

All the players ran into the middle of the court, gave each other high fives, and cheered using the last of their voices. “We won?” Hideyoshi questioned, still not quite believing that his brother managed to pull it off.

“WE WON!” The team jumped up and down, relishing in the taste of victory. The opponents walked off the court, their faces bunched up in frustration. Hideyoshi found himself smiling, then he walked out of the gym.

Tsuna finally had let go and was finding where he truly belonged. He deserved it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you're wondering, I did watch Haikyu, no I'm not basing the volleyball part of this off of Haikyu, I do actually play volleyball, I am in fact a setter, yes the ball has slipped past my fingers before and hit my face like Tsuna did (everytime I backset it lowkey hits my face everytime, but the ref doesn't need to know that).


End file.
